S1 Episode 09: Aged 10
by firebreathingfishies
Summary: The Doctor and Ashley are sent blindly into the vortex after a chase from a bounty ship and end up in 1996. Things get from bad to worse when the Tardis is taken, and they both have to help save a very familiar little girl. COMPLETE
1. UFO

**A/N: So it didn't take as long as I thought it would. Well... technically I've had this one planned for a while. It was going to be episode 10 but... I really couldn't think of anything to do, and when I was reading over my original plan for this one I decided that I really wanted to write it, and I probably wouldn't be able to write anything else until I got this out of the way. So instead of waiting a week or two until I'd finished to start another to be episode 9, i decided to make this episode 9. Bit of a mix in this one, humour and drama... meh lol. **

**ANYWHO here comes chapter one. Enjoy! xD**

* * *

**Chapter One**

**UFO**

The night sky was illuminated with vivid colours that moved gracefully over the dark clouds. The landscape, which seemed to stretch on for miles, glowed slightly under the lights – but this only emphasised its barrenness. Two lone figures sat on a rocky outcrop side by side, staring up at the beautiful sky, in silence. They were the only two beings on the whole planet, and were the first beings to ever see Neptune's version of the Aurora Borealis.

'You'll never see anything like this on Earth.' The Doctor said, breaking the silence. He leaned back and put his hands behind his head, looking up at the sky. 'Neptune has a much stronger magnetic field than Earth, making these lights so much more fantastic. Really, I think the best aurora in the universe is the one right here. You should be proud that it's in your solar system.'

Ashley stared upwards, her hands between her knees. She said nothing.

The Doctor observed her for a moment. 'Right now, as we're sitting here, Earth is just starting out.' He told her. 'I'd say your solar system has only been here for… a thousand years? Give or take?'

She made a slightly impressed sound. 'Bloody hell.' She replied. She was amazed, but there was a lack of interest that made the Doctor frown slightly.

'I wouldn't have bothered taking us so far back,' he went on, watching her as he spoke. 'But from…' He looked at his watch. 'About two weeks from now the tourists start coming to check it out. Thought you might like to see it without some four foot tall Glavis asking you to take a photo for them.'

Ashley smiled. 'It's beautiful.'

The Doctor watched the lights for a moment longer. He had seen them hundreds of times before and, to be honest, he wasn't all that amazed by them anymore. He had brought Ashley here to see if she would open up a bit. Since leaving the hospital two weeks ago she had been quiet and distant. Which was understandable after what had happened on that submarine. He had taken her to a few places that he thought might cheer her up, and she did cheer up – considerably so – there was just something different about her. Her spark had gone. And the Doctor had liked her spark a lot.

'I know somewhere else we can go after here,' he said, sitting up again and allowing his arms to droop between his legs. 'Are you hungry? I can take you for the biggest banana split you've ever seen in your life. Seriously, these bananas are a meter long. And bananas are good.'

Ashley glanced to him and smiled. 'Stop it.' She told him.

He raised an eyebrow. 'Stop what? Don't tell me you don't like bananas because I'll take you home right now if that's the case.'

'Don't worry, I like bananas. Although sometimes I get this weird tingly feeling on my tongue after I've eaten one…' She paused to ponder over this for a second before continuing. 'It's just… you've got to stop doing this.'

'Doing what?'

'Trying to cheer me up by taking me to places like this!' she laughed, pointing up at the sky. 'I mean… you're making too much of an effort! It's been two weeks since we landed somewhere and had to run around for our lives and, to be honest, I kind of like that part.'

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders. 'I just thought you'd like a break.'

'Believe it or not the running around part helps keep your mind off things.' She nodded, looking back up. 'Although you should know that, seeing it's the main reason you travel.'

He looked at her thoughtfully and made a mental note that she was doing that more and more often; picking out pieces of his personality that she shouldn't really know about. He decided to let it pass and looked up also.

'Well it beats sitting around and moping.' He told her.

'Hint much?'

'Well you have been doing an awful lot of moping.'

'I'm trying not to.'

He sighed and put an arm around her shoulders. 'Tell you what, we'll go jump in the Tardis right now and try and find the biggest, most dangerous situation we can find and have ourselves a bit run around, eh?'

Ashley turned and grinned at him, and for the briefest of moments, that spark reappeared. 'Biggest you say?'

'Gargantuan.' He grinned.

'Then what are we waiting for?'

Before either of them could get up or move from their seats, a sudden bright white light shining down from above blinded them. They both shielded their eyes and looked up.

'Bloody hell those lights get bright, don't they?' Ashley commented, squinting to see.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes to slits. 'That isn't the aurora.'

Ashley struggled to see, but eventually saw the teardrop shape of a spaceship above the light. She looked to the Doctor with a confused frown. 'Don't tell me we're getting abducted.'

There was a whine of feedback, and then a voice. '_Put your hands in the air and surrender. Throw any weapons you might have so they are at least ten feet away from your person_.'

'Surrender?' the Doctor enquired in bemusement. 'What for? I didn't even realise we were in a fight!'

Ashley looked at him in alarm. 'What do we do?'

'Well we're not surrendering.' He replied, getting to his feet. 'Even if we were in a fight I wouldn't surrender. Come on.'

He pulled her to her feet and the both of them ran back towards the Tardis, which was parked at the base of the rocky outcrop. The spotlight from the spaceship followed them.

'_Stop immediately, or we will be forced to open fire_.'

'They're going to shoot us before we reach it, Doctor.' Ashley pointed out worriedly.

'No they won't,' he replied with a dismissive wave of his free hand. 'If they wanted us dead they would have shot us instead of asking us to surrender.'

They reached the Tardis and he pulled open the door. Ashley ducked inside, but the Doctor remained for a moment, taking the time to grin and wave at the craft above them. Then he ran inside and shut the door. Leaning against it, he looked at Ashley with wide eyes.

'We have a problem.' He told her.

Ashley stood out of the way as he ran to the control panel and started up the Tardis. 'What kind of problem?' she asked.

'Bounty hunters.' The Doctor replied, looking up at the blue cylinder as it began to move. 'Remember the ship we found in the cave? With the Arakreu?'

Ashley grimaced. 'Oh yeah.'

'Well that's another one.' The Tardis jerked into motion and the Doctor shot Ashley a wild grin. 'Hold on, this is going to be a rough one.'

Ashley gripped onto the nearest coral beam and found herself grinning back at him. 'Better get moving then.'

He beamed. 'That's my girl!' he cried, and then snapped back the lever.

The Tardis lurched and both of them almost went flying across the control room. The Doctor held on, punching buttons seemingly at random. He grabbed the screen and his eyes widened.

'They're following us!' he cried. 'Got a lock on…'

The Tardis shuddered suddenly. A shower of sparks flew up from the controls.

'Damn it!' the Doctor yelled.

'What? What's happening!'

'They're shunting us!' He stretched himself around the console, bashing a button with the palm of his hand whilst kicking another button with his foot. 'They're trying to force us to land!'

'Well just… Just make us disappear!' Ashley cried.

'That's what I'm doing!'

Before the Doctor had the chance to do this however, there was another hard jolt and he was thrown away from the console, hitting the back wall with force. He groaned, clutching his stomach. Ashley scrambled over to him, but she could feel the Tardis losing control under her feet.

'Are you okay?' she cried.

'I can't…' The Doctor hissed and winced. 'Can't get up…'

Ashley looked around desperately. A sudden bell sounded, deep and monotonous and very worrying. 'What's that?' she cried.

'You're going to have to… You're going to have to steer…'

'What?'

He looked at her impatiently. 'Are you going to carry me across there?'

'I can't pick you up.' She shook her head.

'Then get over there and do something!'

She stumbled towards the console and looked at it in panic. It was nothing but buttons and lights and things she had no idea what they did. She noticed a flat black button and went to push it.

'No!' the Doctor cried, trying and failing to get to his feet. 'Don't push that!'

Ashley turned back to the console. She closed her eyes and slammed her hand down randomly. The Tardis made a loud whirring sound – louder than she had heard it ever make – and suddenly it seemed to be moving down very rapidly. Ashley felt like she was on a quickly descending elevator. She held on tight and closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the impact.


	2. Griping

**A/N: Meh, this chapter is no where near as dramatic as the last! And... I was very lazy with it because I've only had two hours sleep. And I'm slightly hungover... In short, I turned up on my doorstep at 4.30am covered in mud. Midnight dog walking when it's been raining is NOT the way forward people. Anyway, less ramble - more... story? o.O**

* * *

**Chapter Two**

**Griping**

The Doctor stood with his arm around Ashley's shoulders, half bent with the pain in his side. With the Tardis behind them, they looked out across the silent field. They had landed hard, leaving a small dip in the ground.

Ashley raised her eyebrows. 'Big overture. Little show.'

'It was rather dramatic wasn't it?' the Doctor commented, referring to their terrifying landing. 'I suppose you're a better pilot than I gave you credit for.'

She shot him a bewildered look. 'Are you kidding? I had my eyes closed!'

'Well then you must be even better. You landed us on solid ground. Although where and when I have no idea. I just-' He stopped with a hiss of pain and doubled over. Ashley caught him.

'Come on, we'll get back inside.' She turned and helped him back inside the Tardis. She helped him past the console, which was still smoking a little, and sat him down on one of the jump seats. She started pulling off his jacket.

'No-' he started.

She slapped his hand away. 'Don't be an idiot. Let me see.'

He frowned stubbornly and was about to argue, but she pulled his jacket off before he could. She froze at the sight of blood seeping through his shirt.

'Um, Doctor?'

'It's fine.' He insisted, trying to pull back on his jacket. 'It's nothing. It's just a scrape.'

Ashley slapped his hand away again and lifted his shirt. She grimaced at the gash that ran beneath his ribs on his left side. 'Oh bloody hell…' she mumbled.

'It's nothing.'

'It's not nothing! You're bleeding!'

'I'll be fine.'

'Don't play macho with me, matey. The last thing I need is you dying and abandoning me in the middle of nowhere.' She paused, the attempted joke only making her stomach churn. 'You have to let me bandage it or something at least.'

The Doctor grimaced, but when he caught her eye he knew he wouldn't be able to talk himself out of this. 'Fine. If you have to play nurse then go ahead.'

Ashley pushed herself off the jump seats. 'Where's your first aid kit then?'

He blinked. 'My what?'

'Your first aid kit. You know, the box with the bandages and stuff in that you use when someone needs first aid?'

'Oh that. Um… well, I don't have one. Anymore.'

'You don't have a first aid kit?' Ashley cried, aghast. She blinked and caught herself. 'I mean, I don't want to sound like a nag but… You're telling me you go to places and risk your life and don't even have any plasters?'

The Doctor only shrugged apologetically. Ashley sighed and rolled her eyes.

'Well you need that bandaging up.' She told him. 'I'll go out and see if I can find a shop or something.'

'What?' the Doctor frowned. 'You're not going out there on your own. We could be anywhere!'

'Well we're not going anywhere until you get that sorted. I'm not having you bleeding to death while we're flying about.'

'Well then I suppose I'll have to come along, won't I?'

'Don't be stupid. You're injured!'

The Doctor grunted as pushed himself upright. 'I'll be fine. Seriously, I've had worse.'

Ashley looked at him disapprovingly. 'I'm going to get you a first aid kit too.'

They headed back out onto the field and took a moment to take in their surroundings. Eventually, the Doctor pointed to their right.

'Looks like a town over there.' He replied.

Ashley nodded and they began to move slowly across the field.

'The cut isn't really all that bad,' the Doctor tried to tell her. 'It's only a graze from the edge of the guardrail that I caught before slamming into the wall. I'll be fine in about twenty minutes. I've had my hand cut off before for God's sake!'

Ashley gave him an inquisitive look. 'Well I'd feel better if we got some bandages.' She told him.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. 'Fine. But it's not necessary.'

They trudged across the field for about a minute, until the town began to get clearer. Ashley narrowed her eyes slightly.

'This place looks familiar.' She said.

The Doctor glanced up and frowned. 'That's not something I hear often.'

Ashley squinted at the town ahead, and then her face dropped. She stopped suddenly, causing the Doctor to wince as she caught him off guard and made him stumble back a little.

'What?' he demanded, a little irritably.

'I'm back home!' she cried. '_Again_!'

The Doctor looked towards the town and squinted. 'Oh yeah. Well fancy that.'

'Why do we keep coming back here? Wasn't the whole point to get away? See other places that are not where I live?'

The Doctor turned to her and smiled. 'Well at least you'll know where to go to get some bandages.'

She grimaced at him sulkily. 'You're not leaving my sight by the way.'

'How about while we're back, we go bowling?'

Ashley looked at him. 'That's not funny.'

The Doctor grinned. 'Oh it is for me.'

Ashley bounced her hip off his and he yelped in pain, his smile quickly disappearing. Ashley started walking again stroppily and he walked alongside her with his hand over his cut.

* * *

The Tardis stood silently in the field. The grass around it twitched in the light breeze. Its only current occupants had reached the town by now and weren't thinking about it, but then why should they? The Tardis could stand anywhere practically unnoticed. It had stood in the corridors of Buckingham palace and not been noticed. It had stood in the streets of Victorian England and no one had commented. It had flown after a taxicab down a busy motorway and never got a mention.

The twitching grass began to bend and flutter with a stronger gust. Then almost lay flat with a _much_ stronger breeze. A circle of sky a little off to the right of the Tardis began to turn a light pink colour. Then there was a single flash of lightening and the ship appeared. It landed slowly and carefully on the field.

It remained where it was for a moment, dwarfing the Tardis only on the surface, before the ramp came down from beneath it with a _hiss_.


	3. Personal Paradoxes

**A/N: This chapter's longer than usual because I just felt like writing loads of crap for the Doctor and Ashley to ramble on about. I'm getting bad for that... I think these stories would only be three chapters long if it wasn't for the rambling between them lol! **

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**Chapter Three**

**Personal Paradoxes**

Ashley now displayed a permanent look of annoyance on her face. They walked along the street side by side, the Doctor already feeling much better but was still not allowed to remove his arm from around her shoulders. They had walked down two very familiar streets and were only a couple of corners from the main shopping area. Straight to Boots, Ashley said, get the bandages and probably a nice big first aid kit to stop this happening again, and then right back to the Tardis. She didn't want to stay any longer than necessary.

'Why do you hate it here so much?' the Doctor enquired, enjoying the quiet for once.

'It's boring!' Ashley cried. 'Look around. It's so boring. This town is for kids and old people. There's one pub, and _I_ work there so it's not much fun. There are about eight shops. You have to travel about fifty miles to the nearest decent town centre.'

'That café is nice.'

'I'm going to burn that café down one day.' Ashley grumbled. She realised what she had said and glanced away. Obviously the subject was going to be touchy with her for a while.

'It's not that bad. I've been to worse places. I mean, I've been to places on a _Sunday_.' He shuddered and grimaced, only drawing a confused glance from Ashley. 'I don't like Sundays.'

'Right.' She frowned. 'Well anyway, Boots is just around here. In and out, okay? And definitely _no_ cafés.'

'No cafés.' The Doctor saluted. 'Right.'

They turned the corner and came to a stop. The Doctor lowered one eyebrow, and Ashley blinked.

'Where's Boots?' she asked in bewilderment.

The street was completely different to when they had last walked down it. The shops were different. Instead of Boots, there was a small fruiters shop and a newsagents. Where there had just been a brand new fountain put in only six months ago, there was a barren stretch of concrete occupied by two benches and one little old man. Two children were sitting cross-legged on the ground near him, piling up their little plastic discs and getting ready with the thicker plastic ones. Ashley gaped.

'They've got Pogs!' she cried. 'I love Pogs! I had a metal slammer.'

The Doctor frowned. 'I think we hit the wrong date.' He told her as a young man walked by fiddling with a cassette walkman.

'What year are we then?' Ashley enquired.

The Doctor managed to get his arm back from her without hassle and walked slowly towards the newsagents, still holding his side. It only stung slightly now. It had only bled a little bit. He pushed open the door and poked his head in. He grinned at the plump woman behind the counter.

'Hi!' he beamed.

She looked up and smiled back. 'Hello there. What can I get you?'

'Just a quick question,' the Doctor replied cheerfully. 'This is going to sound strange but; could you tell me the date?'

The woman blinked once, and then picked up a newspaper. 'Twenty fifth.' She replied.

To save himself from impending embarrassment, the Doctor moved inside and took the newspaper from her. He searched for the date, and then groaned loudly when he saw it. '1996!' he cried. 'Oh I hate 1996!'

The woman raised her eyebrows at him. 'Excuse me?'

Ashley entered and glanced around. Her gaze fell upon the plump woman and she beamed. 'Mrs Thorpe!' she cried. 'I haven't seen you for ages! You look so young!'

The plump woman looked at Ashley in confusion. 'Excuse me?'

The Doctor handed her the paper back. 'Thank you very much.' He smiled, although he was a little more disgruntled since finding out the date. 'We'll be off now.' He turned to go. 'Oh, you don't have any bandages, do you?'

The woman, Mrs Thorpe, looked at him warily and then reached behind and picked up a roll of bandage in a little plastic bag. 'Sixty pence.' She told him.

The Doctor checked his pockets, and then glanced to Ashley. 'I uh, I forgot I had no money.'

Ashley rolled her eyes and moved forward, raking in her own pocket. She grinned at Mrs Thorpe. 'How's Mr Thorpe? And little Freddie?'

'Um fine,' Mrs Thorpe said slowly. 'Although I don't know who Freddie is…'

Ashley laughed. 'Oh he mustn't have been born yet!' She ignored the Doctor nudging her and only waved him away. 'Sorry, just ignore me. Here.' She handed over the money.

Mrs Thorpe eyed her. 'I recognise you, but I can't place a face with a name…' She glanced down at the coin and frowned. 'What's this?'

Ashley peered at the two-pound coin. 'Two pounds.' She replied.

'I'm sorry,' Mrs Thorpe replied, handing it back. 'I don't take foreign money.'

Ashley blinked. 'Oh, right. Okay…' she rummaged in her pockets again. 'You're looking really well mind you. It's great to see you again.'

Mrs Thorpe was obviously finding these two strangers more than unsettling. 'Tell you what, just take the bandages.'

'Oh, thanks!' The Doctor beamed. 'Much appreciated.'

'Are you sure?' Ashley asked. 'Because I'm sure I have some change somewhere…'

'I'm sure.' Mrs Thorpe replied hastily. 'I um… I have to close up for lunch anyway.'

'Alright. Well, it was nice to see you!' Ashley waved as the Doctor pulled her out of the shop. She turned and smiled broadly at him. 'That's Mrs Thorpe. She always let me have the paper for free because every time I came around I forgot my purse. But then she got closed down for the Boots and she moved off somewhere. Oh it's great to see her again…'

'It's 1996.' The Doctor grumbled as they headed back down the street.

'1996?' Ashley grinned. 'Oh cool. I loved the nineties.'

'I hate 1996.' The Doctor replied, frowning.

'Why?'

'Two words.' He looked at her darkly. 'Spice. Girls.'

Ashley laughed loudly. 'I _loved_ the Spice Girls! I had loads of their posters on my walls and everything. As soon as Wannabe came out I was just hooked. Has it come out yet?'

The Doctor nodded. 'And if that wasn't bad enough, 1996 is the year Jon Pertwee dies. And I liked him.' He pouted. 'He was a good actor, and he reminded me of one of my past incarnations…'

'That's the second time you've mentioned incarnations.' Ashley frowned. 'What is that?'

'Nothing.' The Doctor sighed. 'Well we better get back to the Tardis. In and out, you said.'

'Oh but I want to have a look around!'

'You said you hated it here!'

'But this is 1996! I want to look around! Skip down memory lane, if you will.'

'Well can we at least go back to the Tardis first? Get that bandage on that you kept banging on about.'

Ashley rolled her eyes. 'Okay fine. Then can we have a quick look around?'

The Doctor sighed. 'Yes.'

'Yay!' Ashley skipped and beamed. 'Hey, maybe I'll even meet myself.'

He grabbed her suddenly, causing her smile to drop. 'No. No, no, no, no, no. Just no.'

She looked at him in surprised. 'No?'

'No.'

'No what?'

'You can't meet your past self.' The Doctor told her sternly. 'Do you know what would happen if you crossed your own timeline?'

Ashley raised an eyebrow. 'Well no, but I'm sure you're going to tell me.'

'You'll cause a paradox, and paradoxes are very bad things. Reapers will come.'

'Reapers?' She looked mildly worried.

'They search out disturbances in time, such as temporal paradoxes and then come and sterilize the area by devouring _everything_. They're not nice. I had the misfortune of being devoured by one myself. But it…' A brief, sad expression washed over his face. 'It sorted itself out.'

Ashley eyed him. 'That doesn't sound good.' She replied.

'It's not. Trust me.'

She nodded slightly. 'So… if I see mini-me then we cross the road, right?'

'Right. And no going up to people you know and asking them how they've been, okay? They don't know you yet. You could have caused havoc in that newsagents if we hadn't left when we did. So if we do bump into mini-you, keep your hands to yourself.'

Ashley sighed. 'Fine. Come on then let's get you sorted out.'

The Doctor nodded, feeling like he had lectured her enough, and the pair headed back towards the Tardis.

* * *

'Oh you've got to be kidding me.' The Doctor breathed as they crouched in the long grass. 'I can't believe this.'

'How did they follow us here?'

The bounty ship, which had not long ago been hovering over them on Neptune, was parked in the field. Three people were in the process of winching the Tardis up the ramp.

'They're taking my Tardis!' the Doctor whined.

'Well we'll just go over and get it back.' Ashley shrugged. 'There's only three of them. We could totally take them on.'

'Don't turn all Rambo on me,' the Doctor frowned. 'We can't. They'll have guns more than likely. And they're probably taking the Tardis to draw us in so they can catch us. They won't go anywhere with it.'

'What makes you so sure?' Ashley frowned. 'What if they're after us for the Tardis?'

'They're not.' The Doctor replied, looking towards her. 'Because they're after you.'

Ashley blinked. She glanced back to the ship and was quiet for a moment. 'Oh. Right.'

The Doctor looked back to the ship and sighed as the Tardis disappeared up the ramp. 'I can't believe this. Of all the places… _time_, rather, they choose to take my Tardis in 1996. I _hate_ 1996. And it's Sunday. Sundays are boring and just generally bad-' He stopped suddenly, his eyes widening. 'God it's 1996!'

'You keep saying.' Ashley frowned. 'Get over it! We need to get the Tardis back!'

'No!' the Doctor turned around to her, grabbing her shoulders. 'Where were you in 1996?'

Ashley raised her eyebrows. 'What?'

'Where did you live? Did you live near here?'

Ashley nodded. 'Well, yeah.'

'How old were you?'

'Ten.' Ashley nodded. 'It was a crap age actually. My mum had just gone and got herself sectioned and I had to live with my aunty. God it was so crap…' She trailed off and then realised what the Doctor was getting at. 'You think they'd try and grab ten year old me?'

'Think about it,' the Doctor told her. 'It's going to be really dangerous for them to try and grab you now. For all they know they could get within a few meters of you and go up in flames. When you were ten though, you couldn't do that. And it's much easier to grab a ten year old than a twenty year old pyro.'

'Twenty two year old pyro.' Ashley corrected distractedly. She frowned. 'But… I know I didn't get kidnapped when I was ten. I would have remembered, so obviously it didn't happen.'

The Doctor sighed. 'Have you not learnt _anything_? Time is in a constant state of flux. History can be re-written at any time. If they grab ten year old you, _this_ version of you will cease to exist and I'll have never met you, do you understand?'

Ashley frowned in thought. 'You mean… Like in _Back to the Future_?'

'Yes, just like that.'

'So… we're going to have to go and find ten year old me and protect her from those three,' she gestured towards the ship. 'To save the future? Like in _Terminator_?'

'Two movie comparisons.' The Doctor nodded. 'Well done.'

'Thanks.' She replied thoughtfully. She turned and raised her eyebrows. 'Then I guess we should go and find me then. Don't worry, I remember. Hands to myself.'


	4. 10 Years Young

**Chapter Four**

**10 Years Young**

'So is it genetic?'

'You shouldn't get so close, Kirsty. She might bite you.'

'My mum said that it is genetic. She says that when you get older you'll have to get taken away by the men in the white van too.'

'No I won't.'

'Kirsty! She'll scratch you and you'll catch it or something!'

'Shut up Yvonne you can't catch crazy.'

Kirsty Mather and Yvonne Johnson had the other girl practically cornered at the far side of the playground. Behind them the other children ran around, screaming and shouting. They had the footballs out today; so various coloured balls were flying this way and that, bouncing with that hollow sound along the cement. Kirsty Mather pushed her thick blonde hair off her stereotypically pretty face – the kind of face that, if pulled the correct way could easily secure a pony – and scrunched her nose up.

'I bet they'll come in the white van for you next.'

Ashley Chambers, ten years old, frowned. She was quite a quiet girl; kept herself to herself. She did well in class, but did the best in English. She wasn't unpopular so it wasn't usual for her to be taunted in such a way, but she wasn't popular to the point where she could avoid it. She was just another school kid, normal with nothing special about her.

Well, that was up until everyone found out that her mother had been sent to a mental hospital six months ago.

Yvonne Johnson tentatively pulled her friend back a little, staring with wide eyes at Ashley. She was the kind of girl the pretty girls befriended to make themselves look better, with thick-rimmed glasses and curly black hair. Big freckles splattered her face.

'She'll bite you! She will.'

Kirsty batted the girl away impatiently and returned her sights to Ashley. 'You know what my daddy said? He said you mum is _a nutter_. I know what that means. It means your mum likes to run around in the garden in her knickers when its raining.'

Yvonne giggled. Kirsty grinned smugly. Ashley only glared at her.

'My daddy says that your mum must have always been crazy, because she managed to scare your daddy away before you were even born.' Kirsty went on. 'And my mum says that your daddy must have had the right idea because you're just going to turn into _a nutter_ too. I bet you like to run around in the rain in your knickers too!'

Yvonne giggled loudly.

'I do not.' Ashley blushed furiously and frowned deeply. 'And neither did my mum.'

'Yeah she did. I saw her.' Kirsty sneered. 'We'd shout, _look out! Here comes the rain! Crazy Chambers is out and about_!'

'Heh, yeah,' Yvonne smirked. 'Crazy missus Chambers.'

'No you didn't.' Ashley snapped. 'You're a liar.'

'Then she'd take her knickers off and wave her bum in the air!' Kirsty added gleefully. 'And that's how the men in the white van found her, with her bum in the air!' She pointed up at the sky and turned to Yvonne. 'Looks like rain, Yvonne! Quick get inside before Ashley waves her big bum at you!'

Unable to keep her anger inside any longer, Ashley reached out and grabbed Kirsty's hand. She had a moment to savour the look of pure horror on the girl's face, before she pulled Kirsty's hand to her mouth and bit down hard. So hard in fact, her teeth ached.

'_Aaaaaiiiiiiiiiiii!_' Kirsty screamed at the top of her voice, tugging on her hand. Yvonne squealed in horror and then turned and ran across the playground.

Ashley continued to bite down and Kirsty continued to scream, until an adult finally intervened.

'Get off her at _once_!'

Ashley let go and wiped her lips, which were covered in spit. She frowned deeply at Kirsty, who was now sobbing and looking quite awful with her teary cheeks and snotty nose. She clutched her hand that now had a ring of teeth marks and was already starting to swell.

'_She bit me_!' she wailed. '_She bit me!'_

'That's enough!' Miss Garrett cried. She grabbed Ashley's arm. 'Come with me you. Kirsty, go and see the nurse.'

Kirsty ran off across the yard, clutching her hand and wailing mournfully. Ashley watched after her, still frowning but feeling a little better nonetheless, and allowed herself to be dragged indoors by Miss Garrett.

* * *

The room was completely silent apart from the ticking clock on the wall and the scratching of pen on paper. Ashley sat on the big, brown fabric armchair and stared down at her hands. Opposite her, behind a light pine desk that had piles of tidy papers and other various things that didn't interest her, sat Mr Hayton – the Head teacher. A circle of light reflected on his mostly bald head and as he wrote, his top lip twitched, causing his sandy coloured moustache move side to side. His glasses were perched on the end of his nose, probably only getting in the way more than anything else.

Eventually, he stopped writing. He looked up, removed his glasses, and then leaned back in his chair. It creaked under his weight. He regarded Ashley for a moment, and then sighed.

'Ashley, why did you bite Kirsty Mather's hand?' His voice had that awful 'disappointed' tone that was worse than if people were just angry.

Ashley shrugged her shoulders. The only sound that came from her was the shifting of her purple tracksuit jacket.

Mr Hayton looked at her for a moment longer, and then leaned forward. His chair creaked again. 'I know about everything that has happened over the past six months must be very hard for you,' he said gently, picking up his glasses and fiddling with them. 'When something bad happens to your mum it can be very upsetting. But you know, taking it out on others isn't the best way to go about it. I know what Kirsty Mather is like and I understand that she was winding you up, but still the best thing for you to do is to come and tell me, or your teacher about it.' He waited for a response, but Ashley continued to look down at her hands. 'You'll be fine in a few months, I promise. You should focus on your schoolwork to keep your mind off it. I think-'

'You don't know what it's like!' Ashley cried suddenly. 'Is your mum a psycho? No. I don't care about her anymore. I hate her.' She lowered her head, looking back down at her hands.

Mr Hayton looked at her for a moment completely stunned. Once he had regained his composure, he put his glasses back on. 'I think it would be an idea for you to go home for the rest of the day.' He said, getting up out of his seat. 'Wait here while I go call your auntie.'

Ashley chewed on her bottom lip as Mr Hayton left. The door clicked quietly behind him and she released a small rush of air out of her nostrils. A moment later, she heard a tapping. At first she ignored it, but then it grew a little more frantic, so she looked to the window. She raised her eyebrows at the man on the other side.

He was grinning and waving her over. His eyes were big and he had one of those rubbery grins that only really friendly people or weirdos have, and his hair was sticking up all over the place. Ashley hestitated, and glanced back to the door. The man tapped again. Curiosity prevailed and she got up and moved to the window, opening it just a little.

'Hello?' she said inquisitively.

'Hello.' The man beamed. 'Are you Ashley Chambers?'

Ashley blinked. 'Yeah.'

'Oh good. See, I want to have a quick word with you, I'm the Doctor.'

Ashley raised one eyebrow at him. 'Do you think I'm stupid? I'm not going anywhere with you, you weirdo. My mum told me about men who hang around schools.' She paused. 'But then again my mum is crazy so I suppose I don't have to listen to anything she says.'

The Doctor looked at her for a moment with one narrowed eye. 'Right… Well don't worry, I want you to stay right there. I just want to tell you something that is very, very important, okay? Do you promise to remember?'

Ashley shrugged. It wasn't clear whether she was saying yes or no. The Doctor took it as a yes.

'There are three people. Three strangers that might be dressed very strange. If you see them, keep out of their way, okay? Keep an eye out for them. If you see them, run away. Don't go anywhere on your own.'

'Are you one of them?' Ashley asked.

'I'm sorry?'

'You're dressed strange. And you're a stranger. Are you one of them?'

'No, no it's not me. You can trust me.'

'Why should I believe you?' Ashley frowned. 'You're probably just another crazy.'

The Doctor looked at her gravely. 'One day you'll trust me with your life.'

Ashley fell silent under his intense stare. Finally, she nodded and then closed the window. The Doctor winked once, and then disappeared out of sight. A moment later and the door opened.

'Ashley?'

She looked around to see that Mr Hayton had returned. 'Yes sir?' she replied.

'Did I hear you talking to someone?'

'No. I was just looking out the window.'

Mr Hayton regarded her for a moment, and then nodded. He held the door open. 'Just go and sit with Miss Flowers on reception. Your auntie is on her way to pick you up.'

Ashley sighed and trudged past him. Mr Hayton watched her go, and then moved over to the window. He peered out suspiciously, and then went back to his desk to finish up the reports.


	5. Lurker

**A/N: I love mini-Ashley xD I don't know where she sprouted from... although i did have an extended convo with my sister the other night about all those mental things we had in the 90s, like Spice Girl dolls and those squidgy aliens in the goo that are supposed to have babies but never did... the swines. **

**In other news, there's a new chapter of Summer of 64 up... if any of you missed that it's a collab i'm doing with honestgreenpirate about both our OCs. There's two Doctors! And the Beatles! xD Have a gander on my profile page for the link :p**

**Oh and if anyone gets confused, older Ashley doesn't get called Ashley during this chapter, so whenever there's an Ashley mentioned it's little Ashley. I can tell this is going to get bloody confusing :S**

* * *

**Chapter Five**

**Lurker**

Ashley sat at her desk, which was currently littered with various drawings and magazines, and stared out of her bedroom window. It was dark outside, so she really couldn't see anything apart from the ghostly hint of her own reflection that stared back at her glumly. Downstairs, her auntie was watching Coronation Street at a ridiculous volume, so all she could hear was the wailing and jabbering Manchurian accents floating up from beneath her.

Technically, she owed Coronation Street a favour. If it hadn't been for it starting she would probably still be downstairs getting yelled at for biting that lovely girl Kirsty Mather and being compared to various wild animals. As soon as the music began, she slunk out of the room and ran up the stairs. Auntie Clara tried to call her back, but she didn't try hard. The pull of Coronation Street had just been too strong.

Now Ashley was sitting looking at the black window and thinking out the man she had seen at school. That weird man with the big smile. She wondered if he was a policeman or something, but he hadn't really looked like a policeman. But if he wasn't, why would he tell her to watch out for three strangers? But then again wouldn't he have gone to her auntie and told her about it? Maybe he was from the same place Ashley's mum had been sent. Maybe it was a kind of swap – they let one crazy go when they bring in a new one. He was obviously crazy to some degree because he called himself the Doctor. Who puts a '_the_' in front of their names?

Ashley slid her arms down to her chin was resting on her forearms and she sighed heavily. She supposed the next few days were going to be pretty boring. Auntie Clara would probably stop her from watching the TV, which meant she was going to miss _Live and Kicking_ on Saturday. And at school everyone was going to be avoiding her. No doubt Kirsty had been around telling everyone that she was a psycho.

_Oh so what?_ Ashley thought bitterly. _Maybe I am a psycho. I'll be good because then I'll have an excuse to bite Kirsty Mather again_.

She smiled slightly at that thought. Then something caught her eye outside.

Ashley cocked her head and peered out of the window, which overlooked her back garden. The garden was long but narrow, and lined on either side by wild shrubbery that made good dens. Quite a tall brick wall ran around the whole garden, and there was a single black gate at the far end that led out onto the alleyway. She watched for a moment, and then saw someone, or some_thing_ moving around in the bushes.

Being ten and very curious, Ashley didn't hesitate to grab her torch that she kept for looking at her books from the bottom drawer of her desk and ventured out of her room. Passing the living room, she peered around the door to see Auntie Clara deeply engrossed in the television. Ashley quietly continued into the kitchen, and unlocked the back door.

The air outside was very cool and Ashley shivered visibly. She looked around the dark garden for a moment before shining the torch ahead. She stepped out, bare footed, and searched the bushes with narrowed eyes. A second or so later, a face appeared.

'What are you doing out here?' the Doctor demanded, stepping out of the bush and frowning.

Ashley raised an eyebrow. 'You're in my garden.' She pointed out.

'Well… yes… I know that.' The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. 'I was just… um, looking around. For stuff.'

Ashley continued to look at him, shining the torch at his face.

'And can you lower that please? You're blinding me here.'

She lowered the torch. 'What are you doing in my garden?'

The Doctor sighed and rubbed his head. 'I tell you that some people are coming for you, so as soon as you hear a noise outside you go out in the dark on your own. This is going to be a walk in the park isn't it?' he added sarcastically.

Ashley shrugged her shoulders at him. 'If someone had tried to grab me I would have just screamed and screamed until everyone in the street was awake.'

The Doctor regarded her for a moment. 'Well I suppose…'

He didn't get any further than that because he was interrupted by a _woomph_ and a groan. They both looked towards the other end of the garden to see a figure getting to their feet after just rolling, and falling, over the wall. The Doctor rolled his eyes.

'I thought I told you to stay out there!' he hissed.

The newcomer, a girl that seemed vaguely familiar to Ashley, jogged over. She was dressed all in black with a black woolly hat on her head. There were strands of bright red hair poking out from underneath. She reached the Doctor, a little breathless.

'And what are you wearing?' he frowned. 'You look like you're off to rob a bank!'

'You said dress incognito!'

'I didn't mean dress like a burglar!'

'Well it's dark, so I thought if I'm wearing black no one will see me and…' Her gaze fell upon Ashley and her jaw dropped. 'Holy fudge puppies…' she mumbled.

Ashley frowned. 'Who are you?'

The girl began to answer, but the Doctor talked over her. 'It isn't important. Get back inside please.'

Ashley looked to him stubbornly. 'Not until you tell me what you're doing in my garden.'

The Doctor rolled his eyes and looked to the girl beside him. 'Safe to say that you've always been stubborn.'

The girl shook her head and lowered her voice. 'They're coming.' She whispered.

Ashley shone the torch on her. 'I recognise you. Who are you?'

The girl blinked. Ashley took a step forward but the Doctor swiftly moved between the two of them.

'Don't touch her!' he barked.

Ashley looked at him in alarm. 'What? Why? Does she have rabies?'

The Doctor blinked. 'Yes. Yes she has rabies, so don't touch her.'

'Doctor!' the girl cried.

The Doctor ignored her and grabbed Ashley's shoulders, turning her around. 'Go back inside, get into bed and don't come back outside, okay?' he told her as he marched her back to the door. 'And hopefully we won't have to see you again, okay?'

Ashley didn't bother to argue with him. She allowed him to march her through the back door, and then he pulled the door shut. She turned and looked through the window to see him and the girl jogging to the bottom of the garden. He climbed over the wall with ease, but the girl struggled, and then tumbled over onto the other side.

Ashley continued to look at her silent, dark garden for a moment longer. Then she heard the Coronation Street theme and realised Auntie Clara would be in for a cup of tea, and so she quickly ran back up the stairs to her bedroom.


	6. Diversion

**A/N: Short because I got lazy lol. And I've been getting distracted by my photoshop... I'm on a graphics binge and keep doing icons and stuff when I should really be writing... but so meh xD**

* * *

**Chapter Six**

**Diversion**

'I can't believe ten year old me was standing so close. That's so _weird_! I mean… it's more weird because I can't remember that happening, although I was the kind of kid who forgot things after about twenty minutes.' Ashley pulled off her hat. Her hair stuck up and was a strong contrast against her dark clothes. 'Oh and you saw my natural hair colour. I'll admit it, I'm a blonde. Not even a proper blonde, it's that horrible mousy colour that's neither brown nor blonde. It's like its in limbo. I have limbo hair.'

The Doctor shot her an impatient glance. He was trying to remain hidden behind a few dustbins while watching down the alley for the approaching bounty hunters. The plan had originally been to stay quiet, but obviously Ashley had forgotten that part.

'Can you be quiet please?' he whispered. 'We're trying to have the element of surprise here. With you talking it'll just be… an element.'

Ashley pulled her eyebrows together. 'I was just _saying_. God it's alright for you to ramble on about crap all the time but as soon as I do it you get all shushy.'

The Doctor couldn't help but smile a little. 'Shushy?'

'Telling me to shut up basically.'

He smirked. 'That's because you hardly have anything useful to say.'

She shoved him and he nearly lost his balance. He fell halfway out of his hiding place, but then quickly returned to his position. He abruptly clamped his hand over Ashley's mouth.

_They're here,_ he mouthed.

Ashley frowned and pushed his hand from her mouth. _Don't do that,_ she mouthed back.

Silently, they peered over the top of the dustbins and watched. The Doctor grabbed Ashley's hat and pulled it back on her head. She glanced impatiently at him, and then returned her attention to the three strangers.

There were two men and a woman. The woman was slim, with long brunette hair that was braided down her back. She had a feline quality about her face, with almond eyes and high cheekbones. She looked like she had just rolled out of a spy movie, in a black cat suit with various pieces of equipment strapped to her. On her hip was an unusual looking weapon, which was no doubt a gun. Behind her there was a tall man in similar attire, with bleached blonde hair. He glanced around the alley and the Doctor and Ashley noticed his peculiarly white eyes. The third man was broad but shorter than the other man and the woman. He had closely cropped hair and a wide jaw. Both men were also armed.

The three of them stopped at ten-year-old Ashley's back gate, only yards away from the Doctor and adult Ashley's hiding place. The woman looked at a piece of equipment in her hand, and then nodded.

'This is the place.' She confirmed.

'So how're we gonna do this?' the short, broad man asked in a surprising American accent. 'Just bust in there?'

'Grab and go.' The woman mused. 'I think it's the best option.'

The tall man with the bleached hair scratched his head and winced. 'I don't want to sound awkward or anything,' he said shyly. 'But I don't really like the idea of snatching a little girl. On my CV I wrote specifically no child-snatching.'

'Don't be such a wuss, Tim.' the woman snapped. 'I dare you to go back to the ship and ring in and say that.'

The tall man, Tim, shrugged his shoulders. 'It's just… I mean… It's just _weird_.'

'And there's nothin' weird about bein' a bounty hunter.' The shorter man snorted. 'Quit your whinin' and get in there, Timothy.'

'Don't call me Timothy.' Tim grumbled. 'I don't see why we don't just wait for her to come to us. We've got that alien's ship.'

'Do you really want to be sitting there when she comes barrelling in shooting fireballs left right and centre?' the woman frowned. 'This is the easy option. And the boss will probably be happier for it. Makes his job easier too. And he'll already be happy that we've got that ship.'

'Shaz is right,' the shorter man nodded. 'We grab that kid and we don't have to work another day of our lives.'

Tim mulled over this for a moment, and then sighed. 'Okay fine. But I'm not happy about it.'

'You're not happy about anything,' the woman, Shaz, muttered as she reached out for the handle on the back gate. 'You should really lighten up a little-'

The Doctor and Ashley glanced at each other and seemed to confirm a plan with just a nod of their heads. Immediately, Ashley sprang up and pulled her hat off.

'Hey!' she cried.

The three bounty hunters looked around in alarm. Their faces grew a little pale at the sight of Ashley. 'It's her!' Shaz cried, and ran forward.

Ashley hopped over the dustbins and raced down the alley towards the street. Shaz and the shorter man ran after her, ordering Tim to go inside and get the girl. The Doctor watched him hesitate, and waited until he had turned his back before creeping up behind him and knocking him out with a metal pole. Tim fell down, unconscious. The Doctor ran one hand through his hair, and then glanced up the alley after the departing figures.

'Nice to not be the unconscious one for once.' He mumbled, and then proceeded to pull the unconscious man away.


	7. Turning the Tables

**A/N: I'm going to be such a cheater! There's 13 episodes in one DW series, right? Well, I'd only planned for 12 so... _Education Isn't Always Healthy_ is being promoted to an episode lol! I'll be re-writing it though, and I'm just curious if people would prefer me to take it down and repost it as it's rewritten, or just to leave it as it is and replace the chapters? It'll be harder to keep up with but... meh I'm nonplussed either way really :p So techincally, after re-writing EIAH, there's only three stories left :o And then my series is over :(**

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

**Turning the Tables**

The door burst open, making the Doctor jump and let out a little yelp. Ashley shut the door behind her and leaned against it, breathing heavily. She grinned broadly.

'I should be running for Britain!' she exclaimed breathlessly. 'You should have seen me go. They were eating my dust.'

The Doctor only rolled his eyes and got up from his seat. He had been waiting for her in an old abandoned house for about forty minutes. For a while he had been terrified that they had caught her, and had just been on the verge of going out to find her when she burst through the door.

'Where did you go?' he asked as he crossed the dusty floor to a closed door on the other side of the room. 'Sounds like you ran to Germany and back.'

'I might as well have.' Ashley replied, pulling the hat from her head and tossing it to one side. 'They bloody gave me a run for my money. I bet if I hadn't been running around with you so much they would have caught me in no time.' Her eyes moved to the closed door. 'Has he said anything?'

'I was waiting for you.' The Doctor replied with a sigh. He screwed up his face and lowered his voice. 'I hate this kind of stuff. Forced interrogation. There's something… well… _mean_ about it.'

Ashley raised an eyebrow. 'You knock a guy out and lock him up and it's just _mean_?'

The Doctor frowned. 'I couldn't think of a better word.'

Ashley waved a hand. 'Well we'll try and talk to him now. The sooner he tells us where he's from the sooner we can make him help us get the Tardis back and let him go.' She shuddered. 'I hate this stuff too. It's creepy.'

The Doctor nodded and then pulled open the door. It creaked on its hinges and the two of them went in. At one point the room must have been magnificent, with high ceilings and an intricate fireplace – but now it was dusty and the paper was peeling from the walls. There was one piece of furniture in the room; a high backed leather chair. And tied to it, was the tall blonde bounty hunter, Tim.

'Hi, Timmy,' the Doctor beamed as they went in. 'How are you doing?'

The man glared at him, but his set stare seemed to wane when he saw Ashley. 'I take it they didn't catch up to you.' He muttered.

Ashley shrugged her shoulders. 'I'm like the wind.' She grinned, cutting through the air with her hand. The Doctor gave her a disapproving look and she stopped smiling, pushing her hands in her pockets.

'You don't mind if I call you Timmy, do you?' the Doctor asked, walking towards Tim. He didn't wait for an answer. 'Good. Now, we're all pretty busy people I'd imagine. You see we have places to go, planets to see that kind of thing and you don't strike me as the kind of man who likes being tied to a chair in an abandoned house, am I right?'

Tim stared at him, but again didn't have the chance to respond.

'I thought not,' the Doctor carried on. 'So I think it would be easier on all parts if you would; a, call off your other two friends and b, give us the Tardis back. Then we can carry on and you lot can… well… do whatever it is you do. What do you think?'

Tim looked at him for a moment, and then to Ashley. Then he half laughed. 'Did you really think it would be that easy?'

The Doctor shrugged. 'Well no one really asks nicely anymore do they?' He glanced to Ashley for confirmation and she shrugged in return.

'You know why no one asks nicely?' Tim grimaced. 'Because asking nicely doesn't work.'

The Doctor sighed. 'I know. And it's sad. Shows you what kind of universe we live in.' He looked down glumly.

'So what you going to do now then?' Tim raised his head slightly, obviously trying his best to appear brave and nonchalant. 'Have her burn me up?'

The Doctor looked at him in bewilderment. 'What? Why would I do that?' He gestured back to Ashley. 'She wouldn't do that anyway. I don't know who has hired you to find her but they obviously don't know a thing about her if they think she would do that.'

Ashley cleared her throat. 'Well, Doctor…' she began.

He turned and pointed a finger at her. 'I know what you're going to say, and don't. We agreed not to talk about it, right? It was an accident.'

Ashley nodded and glanced away, crossing her arms over her chest and looking faintly sad. The Doctor regarded her for a moment before turning his attention back to Tim.

'She won't hurt you,' he told the slightly bewildered bounty hunter. The Doctor's eyes darkened. 'But I might. So how about I give up asking nicely and just tell you what to do? Go back to your ship, leave the Tardis, and fly away.'

Tim looked at him for a moment, trying to figure out whether or not he was bluffing. 'No can do.' He said finally. 'I've been waiting all my life for a payout like this.'

The Doctor narrowed his eyes briefly. 'Who exactly is paying you?' He had to ask, but he already knew.

Tim half smiled. 'Timothy Crowe.'

The Doctor had known it ever since they had found the bounty ship in the cave all those thousands of years in the past. He didn't think Ashley knew, and the light gasp she gave at the mention of his name confirmed it.

'I heard he was dead.' the Doctor lied, narrowed one eye.

Tim shrugged his shoulders. 'Alive and kicking. Well… he doesn't kick much these days. But when you've got that much money you can pay people to do that for you, can't you?' He chuckled.

Ashley moved forwards quickly. The Doctor got a look at her face and saw that she had gone quite pale. 'Why does he want me?' she asked.

Tim shrugged. 'I'm only one of the delivery boys. I transport the package. Don't particularly care what happens to it.'

'So you'd happily hand over a human life just to satisfy your own ends?' the Doctor frowned.

Tim shrugged. 'It pays the bills.'

The Doctor grimaced at him and turned away. 'I'm going to tell you one more time,' he said in a low voice. 'You leave now. Call your friends off, and leave. Tell Crowe that if he wants her, he can come and get her himself. But he'll have to go through me first.'

Tim smirked, and then grinned, then laughed. Ashley watched him, visibly unsettled. The Doctor looked more angry.

'With a head price like that,' Tim grinned. 'I'd lose all my limbs before giving up.'

By the time the Doctor noticed the small silver disc in Tim's hand, it was too late. Tim's thumb pressed in the centre and he went up in a white light. There was a flash, and then the chair was empty.

'No!' the Doctor yelled. 'Damn it!'

'What the hell happened?' Ashley cried.

'Transportation device!' the Doctor responded through gritted teeth. 'Why didn't I think of that?' He hit himself on the head with his fist. 'Stupid!' He pulled out the sonic screwdriver and turned it on. The blue light shone and the contraption whirred, but nothing seemed to be happening. The Doctor only let out a frustrated cry and whirled around with it, as if he were searching for a signal. Which in a way, he was.

'What are you doing?' Ashley demanded, losing patience with the madness unfolding around her.

'They've got a block on the signal!' the Doctor snarled. 'I can't bring him back.' He turned to Ashley. 'They were tricking us. We weren't the ones in power at all. It was a diversion.'

Ashley's eyes widened. 'You mean…?'

'We have to get back to the ten year old you. _Now_.'


	8. Crime Scene

**A/N: Bloody hell I had a right job writing this chapter for some reason. Nothing even happens in it! XO I kept on getting distracted by paint shop and wasting so much time on it. If anyone wants to see what I spend my not so precious time on, there are links on my profile page to three story covers I did on deviantart. Just a boredom thing. If I remain so bored, I might try and do a cover for each story, but tbh, it's looking unlikely lol!**

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

**Crime Scene**

The Doctor knew what to expect before they even turned the corner. His battered converse drummed the pavement, which was beginning to turn spotting in the slow starting rain. Ashley kept up with him easily, hardly even out of breath. He remembered the first time he met her and the difficulty she used to have in keeping up. He felt a pang of nostalgia. The feeling was strange as that hadn't really been that long ago.

Despite expecting the scene on Jessop Avenue, both of them still came to a stop when they turned the corner. The blue lights that flashed on the top of the stationary police cars lit the faces of the crowd of spectators. Practically the whole street stood in the spitting rain, housecoats and jackets wrapped around the pyjamas, trying to hide the fact that they had gotten out of bed to catch a glimpse of what happened at number twenty-three. There were two officers asking the crowd to go back to their homes or to at least move back. They just moved back, craning their necks and speculating quietly to what could have happened. There was a single ambulance pulled up near to the house. At the sight of this, Ashley let out a low groan.

'Oh god…' she mumbled, and started forward.

The Doctor caught her arm and pulled her back. 'Don't rush in.' he told her quietly. 'If we want to find out what happened we have to act casual, okay? Let me deal with this.'

Ashley looked at him worriedly. 'What if they hurt Auntie Clara?'

The Doctor said nothing. He just looked at her solemnly. She breathed out slowly through her nostrils, and then shook her shoulders.

'Okay. Okay come on then.'

They two of them walked quickly but casually towards the house. Ashley was a little pale. While he still had the chance, the Doctor took her hand and gave it a squeeze, before letting go again. She barely registered it.

'If you use Inspector Morse again,' she said, already knowing he had hold of the psychic paper in his other pocket. 'I'll stuff that paper down your neck.'

The Doctor smiled wanly, but before he had a chance to respond they were stopped by the first police officer. He was a tall man, roughly the same height as the Doctor, with a short salt and pepper beard and small, uninterested eyes. He held up one hand in front of them as if he were halting traffic, and then pointed towards the crowd with his thumb.

'If you don't mind, we're trying to figure out what has happened here,' the officer said in an impatient voice, obviously sick of onlookers trying to get a better look at what happened. He glanced to Ashley, his hooded eyes running over her bright hair. 'We don't need journalists getting in the way.'

'I'm Inspector Smith,' the Doctor said quickly, flashing him the psychic paper. 'This is Constable Jones.' The names were unimaginative, but unimaginative names normally roused the least suspicion. He flipped the psychic paper closed and pushed it back into his pocket. 'Would you care to tell me what's going on here?'

The officer shifted uncomfortably. The top of his ears turned slightly pink. 'Oh, sorry sir.' He glanced to Ashley again and cocked an eyebrow. 'What happened to you? Get a tin of paint thrown at you, love?'

She narrowed her eyes at him and opened her mouth utter some obscene response, but the Doctor spoke over her.

'Uh, I asked you a question?' he said authoritatively.

The officer nodded and shifted once again on his feet. 'Very right, sir. Sorry.' He reached into his top pocket as he apologised and pulled out a notebook. He licked his thumb once, and flipped the page over. 'We got a call from Mrs Chambers about twenty minutes ago, reporting the abduction of her niece. A uh…' He paused and checked his notebook. 'Ten year old female.' He flipped the notebook again and scratched his short beard. 'According to her two individuals, a man and a woman, burst through the back door. Both of them were armed and they forced her into the living room, barricading the door. She says she heard the little girl screaming as they took her off.' He sighed, saddened. 'Bloody awful, mate. I mean, what kind of world do we live in if our kids aren't even safe in their own beds?'

The Doctor nodded morosely. 'Tell me about it.' He mumbled.

'Why is there an ambulance here?' Ashley asked, nodding to the stationary vehicle. 'Was someone hurt?'

The officer must have picked up on the desperate tone in her voice because he looked at her suspiciously. 'Can I see your ID, miss?'

The Doctor moved forward. 'What's your name officer?'

'Gerald, sir. Kenneth Gerald. Why?'

'So I can put in a complaint in with your superior about you for delaying our participation in this investigation.' The Doctor frowned at him. 'Now Miss Jones asked you a question, and I'd like you to answer it.'

Officer Gerald's jaw tensed. 'Mrs Chambers suffered a minor head injury. We called the ambulance as a precaution.'

The Doctor gave him an exasperated but appreciated nod. 'Thank you.' He replied, and then led Ashley towards the ambulance.

'I don't understand why we've come here,' Ashley whispered as they passed a group of police officers who eyed them curiously. 'We know where they've taken her… me…' She shook her head, unable to figure out which term to use. 'To that great big bloody spaceship – which, to be perfectly honest, I can't see how no one has noticed. It could be taking off right as we speak.'

'That ship has to heat up before it can take off. We have a thirty-minute window between them starting it up and it taking off. Let's assume they started the ship as soon as Timmy-boy disappeared from right under our noses. That was ten minutes ago, which obviously gives us twenty minutes to get there. Plenty of time.'

Ashley eyed him unsurely. 'What if they started the ship up as soon as they got mini-me back? They all have teleporter things, right? Which means they wouldn't have to _travel_. They could have been in the ship for twenty minutes already, which only gives us _ten_ minutes to get there.'

The Doctor looked at her blankly for a moment, and then shook his head with an unconvincing frown. 'Nah, that's unlikely. They wouldn't have started the ship until Tim was on it.'

By now they had both stopped amongst the flashing police lights and were facing each other. 'But you said they tricked us.' Ashley reminded him. 'What if they had it planned from the beginning? I mean, what if they expected us to go and find mini-me after we landed and knew we would go and try and stop them from taking her. So they made it _look_ like we had one over on them and that I diverted them, just so we would be out of the way so they could grab mini-me, take her to the ship, start the ship up, and that Tim bloke knew just the right time to teleport back so he wouldn't be left behind.' She took in a deep and much needed breath, and then rested one hand on her hip, waiting for the Doctors response.

He blinked at her for a moment. 'God you are paranoid, aren't you?'

She shrugged her shoulders. 'I bet I'm right though.'

The Doctor sighed. 'More than likely.'

Ashley expected him to turn back and head in the direction of the field where the ship was parked. She expected it so much that she actually turned that way herself, but the Doctor was continuing towards the ambulance. She skipped back around and jogged to rejoin his side.

'What are you doing?' she whispered.

'I just need to find something out.' He replied.

Ashley looked ahead and felt her mouth dry up when she saw her Auntie Clara, a whole ten years younger than when she last saw her, sitting on the edge of the ambulance while a young paramedic tended to a scrape on her forehead. Clare Chambers smoked with one trembling hand, her eyes staring blankly at the floor. Ashley grabbed the Doctor's arm and shook her head.

'I can't go over there.' She told him. 'My Auntie Clara died in 2006. Lung cancer.'

'Just wait here.' He told her, gently touching her arm before heading the rest of the way to the ambulance alone. Ashley pushed her hands in her pockets and leaned against the police car behind her, sighing heavily.

The Doctor strode across the increasingly wet road – the rain was gradually getting heavier – and pulled out the psychic paper as he reached Clara Chambers and the paramedic. 'Hi there,' he smiled – not too big a smile though, he was very much aware that this woman had just had her niece abducted. 'Mrs Chambers?

The woman looked up slowly. Her face was ghost white but her eyes were red-rimmed. She was dressed in her nightgown, with a light pink housecoat wrapped tightly around her stout frame. Her blonde hair hung in curls down her face, slightly messy either from sleep or running her hands through her hair in stress.

'That's me.' She replied in a flat voice. She took a long drag from her cigarette.

'You don't mind if I ask you a few questions, do you?'

The paramedic packed up her things and moved away, obviously knowing better than to get in the way if an Inspector was around. The Doctor sat beside Clara and pushed the psychic paper back into his pocket.

'Do you think you could tell me what happened?' he asked in a gentle voice.

Clara Chambers took a long, deep draw from the cigarette between her fingers. 'I was in bed,' she replied, the smoke escaping through her lips and nostrils as she spoke. 'I heard the back gate go and I just thought I'd forgotten to lock it when I but the rubbish out earlier, so I went down to sort it out or else it would be banging all night, you know?' She stopped to have another drag of the cigarette. 'Soon as I got to the bottom of the stairs there was… there was this woman. She pointed a gun in my face and told me to get in the front room.' Tears formed in her eyes and her hand trembled even more. 'The… She shoved me through the door and that's when I hit my head on the phone table. She shut the door and told me if I came out she would shoot me, but she mustn't have thought I was going to listen to her because she pushed the side table in front of the door. Then I heard… I heard Ashley screaming upstairs-' A sob escaped and she clapped her hand over her mouth. The Doctor rubbed her back but said nothing. He wanted her to continue. Clara sniffed and managed to compose herself. 'I tried to get out but I couldn't, so I just called the police. I was going to move the phone into the hallway yesterday but I never got around to it. If I had I probably would still be stuck in there…' She sniffed loudly and turned to the Doctor. 'You'll find her, won't you? Christ she's only a child.'

The Doctor nodded solemnly. 'I'll find her. I promise.'

Clara nodded and looked across the road with a sigh. She was about to take another draw from her cigarette, but she paused. She narrowed her eyes. The Doctor followed her gaze.

'What is it?' he started, but then noticed Ashley in the street, looking towards the house.

'I… I'm sorry,' Clara shook her head, but couldn't take her eyes from Ashley. 'She just looks… She's the spitting image of my sister-in-law. Ashley's mother.'

The Doctor looked at Ashley sadly, and then rose to his feet. 'We'll find your niece Mrs Chambers. I promise.'

Clara nodded, but had tuned out. She smoked the rest of her cigarette, looking down at the ground. The Doctor headed back across the garden and to the street. He took Ashley's arm and quickly led her away from the police cars.

'What happened then?' Ashley asked in bewilderment. 'Did you find out what you wanted to know?'

'They'll have taken her back to the ship.' The Doctor replied, apparently ignoring her questions but confirming what she had pointed out earlier. 'They took her twenty minutes ago. Their ship has a thirty minute start up, so we've got about ten minutes to get there before they take off.'

'Well why didn't we just go there first?' Ashley asked. 'We would have had more time and-'

'I needed to know how much of a chance I should give them,' the Doctor replied darkly. 'And it's not looking good for them.'


	9. Executing the Perfect Rescue

**A/N: Well now that the Documents bit is working again I can update! Foolz... well at least they got it fixed but it seems like its every week something stops working here. Okay I'll stop grumbling :P**

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

**Executing the Perfect Rescue**

The damp grass tickled Ashley's nose and she wiped it irritably. Despite not making any noise, the Doctor shushed her and she glanced at him in annoyance. They were squatting in the long grass a few yards away from the ship, a spot they acquired by crawling through thickening mud on their hands and knees to avoid being spotted. Now they had finally reached it, however, the Doctor seemed to be stuck for a plan.

'What now?' Ashley whispered, rubbing her nose with one muddy hand and leaving a brown smear on her face.

The Doctor's eyes ran over every single part of the ship, searching for an entrance or at least a weak spot that he could force open to get inside. So far, he had seen nothing. The thing looked near impenetrable. 'I could reconfigure the ramp and lower it, but that would draw too much attention. There's an emergency hatch underneath this model – it's the same one as in that cave, you remember?'

Ashley frowned. 'Yeah I remember.' She muttered bitterly, wiping her muddy hand on her jeans. She wasn't particularly in the mood for reminiscing.

'We should go back there sometime,' the Doctor mused aloud. 'The people were very nice. Even if they were a little forward… but they made a nice gruel type thing. Nicest I've had, even.'

'Doctor,' Ashley sighed. 'Matter at hand, please?'

He blinked as if he had completely forgotten. 'Oh, yes. Right, of course.' He narrowed his eyes. 'Both entrances are completely useless because we'll get caught pretty much straight away.' He sighed heavily. 'It's times like these I _hate_ not having the Tardis.'

'What, times when you haven't got the Tardis?'

'Exactly.'

They both returned their attentions to the ship. Ashley glanced at her watch. Using their estimation of the remaining time before the ship lifted off, they had three minutes.

'We have to think of something fast.' She mumbled.

The Doctor hissed through his teeth. 'The only way we're going to get on there is if we get captured.' He replied.

Ashley frowned at him. 'You said they only want _me_, and technically they have me. What if they just shoot us?'

The Doctor looked to her and shrugged. 'Well… Are you good at dodging bullets?'

She frowned deeply at her, but he only turned back to the ship. Before either of them had a chance to say anything else, the ship began to make a low humming sound. Ashley's eyebrows shot up and she went to move forward.

'It's leaving!' she hissed.

The Doctor grabbed the back of her jacket and pulled her back down. She landed on her backside in the mud with a _squelch_. She froze at the sensation, and then grimaced. The Doctor put a finger to his lips before she spoke, and then pointed back to the ship. She followed her finger and was surprised to see that the ramp was slowly lowering. She pushed herself back to a crouching position and watched quietly with the Doctor.

'Don't be stupid, we're taking off in two minutes!' a female voice yelled from somewhere in the ship.

Ashley and the Doctor shared matching frowns as Tim headed down the ramp. 'You think I'm going to take a leak in that thing?' he called back in to the ship. 'It _stinks_. Been blocked for weeks.'

'Well if you're still out there when we take off I'm leaving you.' The woman replied.

Tim muttered something that the other two couldn't hear, and then trotted off a little way around the side of the vehicle. The Doctor and Ashley looked at each other. Ashley grinned broadly.

'We are the personifications of lucky.' She confirmed.

The Doctor looked unsure. 'I don't know…' he mumbled. 'This seems a little _too_ lucky…'

Ashley snorted. 'And you call _me _paranoid. Come on, this is our only chance.'

The Doctor mulled this over for a moment, hesitated, and then rose a little. He hesitated for a second time, and then dodged through the long grass towards the lowered ramp. Ashley followed, keeping low. She pulled the black hat out of her back pocket, which was now mostly brown from the mud, and used it to cover her hair. She groaned quietly at a glob of mud that slid down her forehead.

'_Sshh_!' the Doctor hissed quietly.

Ashley closed her mouth. The pair of them stopped under the ramp with seconds to spare before Tim reappeared. Whistling an unfamiliar tune, he trampled back up the ramp, his heavy boots making low metallic thuds. He vanished inside the ship, but the Doctor didn't move.

'Doctor, he's-'

He held up a finger to his impatient companion. 'Three… two… one.'

There was a hum, and the ramp began to rise again. The Doctor grabbed Ashley's hand and hauled her around the side, practically lifting her by her waist and tossing her onto the ramp.

'Allonsy!' he whispered loudly, and then scrambled up after her. He snatched the tail of his coat through the gap just before the ramp closed with an echoing _bang_.

Ashley rolled over onto her side and looked at him in surprise. He grinned back at her. 'Jesus you've got hidden strength.' She remarked.

'I've got a lot of hidden things.' He replied, beaming. His smile dropped and he paused. 'By that I didn't mean-'

'Oh shut up,' Ashley replied, getting to her feet and brushing herself down. She achieved nothing, however, as the mud on her clothes was still wet. 'We find mini-me and the Tardis, and get the hell out of here.'

The Doctor got to his feet and nodded. 'I think that's the best course of…' He stopped as he noticed something past Ashley's shoulder and his face lit up. 'Oh fantastic!'

Ashley watched in bewilderment as the Doctor skipped past her. She understood immediately and felt a wave of relief when she saw the Tardis standing silently in one corner of the packed (she assumed) loading bay.

'Ah there you are!' The Doctor beamed, stroking the front of the Tardis with one grubby hand. Ashley noticed he was nowhere near as muddy as she was. 'Did they hurt you? Those nasty people, eh?'

Ashley smirked. 'Do you two need a moment?'

The Doctor glanced back to her as if, for the second time, he had forgotten she was there. 'Oh right,' he returned his hands to his pockets and shrugged sheepishly. 'I just miss her.'

Ashley cocked an eyebrow. The Doctor's ears turned a little pink.

'Right,' he said quickly. 'We best go get mini-you then. Couple of things I just want to get first though…' He pulled the Tardis key out of his pocket and went to push it in the door. He froze at the sound of a gun cocking.

'I'd stop right there if I were you,' a familiar gruff voice told him.

The Doctor glanced over his shoulder. Tim had his gun pressed against Ashley's temple. She had her eyes shut and her expression seemed more annoyed than frightened. The Doctor drew his eyebrows together, angrier that they had been tricked for a second time.

'The boss will be even happier with two.' Tim grinned.


	10. Words of Assurance

**A/N: For the record, I have nothing against short people ;) I'm only 5ft 5 myself. Complete short arse ¬.¬**

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

**Words of Assurance**

'Oi! Now be careful there, you're going to rip my suit!'

The Doctor shot the short, stout bounty hunter an impatient scowl, but the man only smirked in response. He waved the gun in his hand, as if it gave him the right to do anything. Ahead, Tim was pulling Ashley along the claustrophobic corridor. The corridor wasn't particularly narrow as such; three people could probably walk down it comfortably shoulder-to-shoulder, but the ceiling was low and various boxes and crates were stacked along the walls. Wires hung from various openings in the ceiling also, and the air was warm and stale. Tim kept the gun trained on Ashley's head, but despite this she still craned her neck back to keep an eye on the Doctor.

'Oh yeah, wave your little peashooter around because _that_ makes you a bigger man doesn't it?' the Doctor growled at his captor. 'Is that why you have it? Suffering from a little SMS? I can think of better ways to overcome that you know. Platforms are probably the least lethal. _Well_, I say least lethal… you try dancing around at a Bee-Gees concert with a pair of them on and you can give yourself one nasty swollen ankle…'

'What the hell are you babbling on about?' the short man demanded angrily, his cheeks almost burning. 'What the hell is SMS?'

'SMS?' The Doctor replied, cocking an eyebrow. 'Short man syndrome? Awful affliction. I feel for you, I do. Probably be a bit more sympathetic if you weren't waving that thing around.' He gestured with a curled lip at the gun.

Ahead, Ashley smirked. Tim was also smirking. They noticed each other and their looks of amusement instantly vanished and were replaced with distaste. The short bounty hunter was now a peculiar beetroot colour. His jaw was working behind his tightly pressed lips.

'Although there's nothing wrong with being short,' the Doctor went on, oblivious to the man's increasing fury. 'A lot of good men were short. Napoleon was quite short. Five feet six and a half he was. Although some people think he was shorter. Beethoven was only half an inch shorter. Harry Houdini was five foot five, which probably helped him get out of those boxes I suppose… Joan of Arc was only four foot eleven and look what _she_ accomplished! I know I said men but she was more of a man than most men I've met-'

The short man finally lost the last shred of patience he might have had and shoved the Doctor roughly against the wall. He cocked the gun and pointed it at his chin. The Doctor raised his eyebrows and looked down the barrel.

'Oh, was that a sore subject?' he asked apologetically. 'I'm very sorry. You have to stop me sometimes you know, I get carried away with myself…'

'Desya,' Tim said authoritatively. 'Crowe said he wanted him alive. You shoot him and you kill all of us.'

The Doctor gave the short man, who he assumed was named Desya, a friendly grin. 'It's nice to be wanted alive. Reminds you that you're actually wanted.'

Desya's top lip curled briefly, and then he lowered the gun angrily. He pulled the Doctor off the wall and shoved him hard. The Doctor stumbled and pin wheeled his arms to keep his balance.

'Alright, alright!' he cried. 'Keep your hair on!' He glanced back and ran his eyes over the man's practically bald head. He winced. 'Oh I'm full of them today aren't I?'

'Keep moving.' Desya barked, and shoved him again.

* * *

A few moments later they were shoved down a moderately steep metal ramp into a room that faintly smelled of burnt plastic. There were cells on either sides of the room – six of them in all. There was a red light in this room, which made it quite hard to see well. It was like being in a darkroom. Everyone now had red skin and black clothes, no other colours. Ashley blinked, trying to force her eyes to adjust. It didn't help.

'Oh you've got to be kidding me!' The Doctor cried. 'We're right next to the thrusters! They're practically beneath us!'

'They'll keep you warm,' Desya replied nastily, hauling open a nearby cell door. 'Might make your hair gel melt though.' He shoved the Doctor inside and slammed the cell shut, pushing a deadbolt into place and attaching a padlock.

Tim was a little gentler with Ashley. He pushed her into the cell beside the Doctor and locked the door. Without another word they marched back out, up the ramp, and slammed another heavy metal door shut behind them. As soon as they were gone, the Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver.

'Well this is just great isn't it?' Ashley sighed, slapping her arms by her sides. 'That's _twice_ they've made us look like complete idiots.'

'Well I did say that it looked a bit _too_ lucky.' The Doctor replied, his tongue half out of his mouth while he worked on the lock.

'Oh so I suppose this is my fault.' Ashley grumbled.

The Doctor paused and looked at her in bewilderment. He regarded her for a moment. She looked pale and drawn. She was thinner. For the first time he thought that perhaps she wasn't taking this as well as he had originally thought. He straightened up and pushed the screwdriver back in his pocket.

'Are you okay?' he asked.

She glanced to him in surprise, and a little guiltily. She blinked twice, glancing around the cell. 'Of course I'm fine.' She replied unconvincingly. 'Stop flapping your gums and get that cell door open so we can get out of here.'

The Doctor showed no sign of moving. He looked at her in concern. This was obviously unsettling her because she began to shift from foot to foot.

'What are you waiting for?' she asked, pointing at the lock. 'Hurry up! We'll be taking off any minute!'

He took a step forward towards the bars of her cell and, surprisingly, she took a step away. He frowned slightly.

'What is it?' he asked. 'What is it that's bothering you so much? Is it what happened on the submarine?'

Ashley looked away from him, but even in the dim light he could see her eyes filling up. 'I'm fine.' She replied. 'Get us out of here.'

The Doctor continued to watch her. She turned her back on him, crossing her arms over her chest. She wiped at her face and fell silent. He turned back to the lock and pulled out the sonic screwdriver again. It was taking longer to open the lock because the padlock was rusty and it was harder for the vibrations to reach the essential part of the lock. He worked in silence.

'It's what you said.' Ashley said finally, in a voice so quiet he hadn't even been sure she had spoken.

He stopped and looked up. 'Umm?'

Ashley turned around and wiped at her face. The wetness on her palm from her eyes cut through the dried mud on her face. In the light she looked like some kind of guerrilla soldier. 'It's what you said on the sub.'

The Doctor pushed his hands in his pockets again and stepped towards the bars. This time she stayed put in the centre of her own cell. Around them the ship began to hum and vibrate. 'What did I say?' He knew fine well what he had said.

Ashley looked at him; knowing that he knew and momentarily hating him for making her say it. She swallowed. 'You said you only have me with you so you can keep an eye on me.'

The Doctor looked at her sternly. 'You know that's not the truth.'

Ashley cast her eyes down. 'Then why did you say it?'

'It was what you wanted to hear.'

She said nothing for a few moments, and then wiped at her nose with the back of her hand with a loud _sniff_. 'Did you really think that?' she asked, teary eyed. 'I needed reassurance. I needed you to tell me I was wrong, not tell me that I was right.'

The Doctor looked at her sadly. 'I'm sorry, I am.'

Ashley sighed. 'I just don't…' She paused and took in a light breath. 'I don't see why you're…' She stopped and shook her head. 'You know what? It doesn't matter. We'll have plenty of time for this. Or no time if we don't get out of here soon.' She offered a smile, but it was weak.

The Doctor moved forward and reached out with one hand into her cell. He beckoned her over but when she only looked at him and frowned. 'Oh c'mere.' He told her.

Ashley tentatively stepped forward. She was taken by surprise as he pulled her into a hug. It was an awkward hug as the bars were positioned at irregular intervals. She tried to hug him back, but she found herself a little restricted by the bars. In his arms Ashley felt the lump in her throat rise. She fought against it, thinking that she didn't want to leave snot and tears all over his suit.

'I don't see why you're doing all this,' she found herself saying. 'I mean, if you let them take the younger me then we'll have never met. You wouldn't have had to deal with all this. You wouldn't have had to go through what I did to you on that sub.'

After a moment of spontaneous tight hugging, the Doctor held her back by her arms. She blinked at him, and he smiled fondly.

'Oh Ashley Chambers,' he grinned. 'It's not very often I come across a loudmouthed pyromaniac who watches too many movies and can't tell the difference between a sonic screwdriver and a penlight.'

Ashley lowered one eyebrow. 'That was _one_ time.' But a small smile began to creep on her face.

'We're in this together, you and me.' The Doctor smiled. 'It was my decision to bring you along full time, and I wouldn't change it for the world.'

Ashley smiled and wiped her eyes with the heel of her palm. He looked at her for a moment longer and then let go of her, turning back to his cell.

'And besides,' he went on, his voice returning to that joking tone. 'Do you really think I'd let you bring pink fluffy fairy lights on board the Tardis if I just had you around to keep an eye on you?' I would have tied you up on a distant planet with them if that had been the case.'

Ashley smiled and wiped her face. 'I'm sorry.' She said, shaking her head and half laughing. 'I shouldn't have brought it up. It was stupid.'

The Doctor looked at her, the jesting gone. The brightness of his eyes actually made the smile freeze on Ashley's face. 'Oh there's nothing stupid about you, Ashley Chambers. Nothing stupid at all.' He flashed her a big, goofy grin that reanimated the smile on her face, and then focused on the lock once again. 'Now enough of the… What did you call it?'

'Gum flapping.' Ashley replied.

'That's the one. Enough of the gum flapping!' The lock popped open and the Doctor pushed the door open. He moved to Ashley's cell and pointed the screwdriver at the lock. He beamed at her through the bars. 'We've got some running to be doing.'


	11. Muddy Getaway

**A/N: This chapter's really long for some reason... i don't know how it happened tbh :S But there are two more chapters after this one and then I'll be back trying to force out another idea for episode ten (why oh why did I set myself the challenge to do 13?! Might have to settle with 12 :p) Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing and the like :D You all rock so much I could built a pretty nifty rock garden out of you all XP**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven**

**Muddy Getaway**

Ashley Chambers was terrified. So terrified, in fact, that she had dared not open her eyes for the past half an hour. She sensed that she room she was in was quite small, and apparently the floor was made out of metal, but she wouldn't open her eyes to confirm her instincts. The air was hot and hard to breathe, but she still didn't open her eyes. Even when her surroundings began to hum and vibrate, she kept her eyes tightly closed. By not seeing where she was, she was keeping herself relatively calm.

She had _not_ been so calm, however, when she had opened her eyes and stared into the face of a grinning man. She had screamed so loudly that her throat was still sore now. She had fought and struggled, but there is only so much a ten-year-old girl can do against an adult – which is pretty much nothing. She was snatched straight from her bed and as soon as they passed the threshold of her bedroom door, she had closed her eyes.

And refused to open them.

Ashley remembered something her mother used to tell her before the last of her sanity crumbled from beneath her feet. She used to tell Ashley that if something frightened her, then all she had to do was to keep her eyes closed until someone came to comfort her. She said that there would always be someone there to comfort her when she needed it. Her mother had promised she would always be there for her, but Ashley strongly doubted that she was going to come through the door and take her home. She wouldn't be able to open the door with her straightjacket on.

Ashley closed her eyes tighter and the floor shuddered beneath her. She wondered what those people wanted with her. She had caught Auntie Clara watching the news about young girls being sold underground and she wondered if that was where she was going. She wondered if she would have to dig tunnels or something. She hoped not. Ashley hated digging.

A strange noise began to make itself heard over the constant humming around her. She was tempted to open her eyes, but she restrained herself and drew her eyebrows together instead. The sound was growing louder, and she actually began to feel a breeze on her face. It was a strange grinding, mechanical sound. It got louder and louder, to the point Ashley clamped her hands over her ears, and then abruptly ended with a _thump_.

Then there was nothing but the hum of the ship again. Ashley sat, breathing lightly and quickly, waiting for something to happen. What had that been? It had sounded like some kind of machine. A grinder? A _meat_ grinder! Were they going to throw her in a meat grinder! She heard a creak of an opening door and her panic flooded out of her mouth even though she had tried to keep it in.

'Oh please please don't throw me in a meat grinder!' Ashley wailed, still with her eyes closed. 'I'm sorry I was nasty to my Auntie Clara earlier on! I shouldn't have called her Shamu! And I'm sorry I bit Kirsty Mather at school! And I'm sorry I only got two out of ten on my maths homework! I'll do better next time, I promise!'

Gentle hands rested on her shoulders and she opened her eyes more in surprise that anything else.

'Hey, hey,' the Doctor told her gently. 'That's enough of that. You're okay, now, right? We've come to take you home.'

Ashley blinked at him in bewilderment, aware for the first time that her cheeks were streaked with tears. She wiped them away with the palm of her hand and then looked past the Doctor's kind, smiling face to see a blue box in the corner. A light glowed from inside of it. The girl with the red hair stood in the open door, covered in dried mud. She was smiling also.

'Right then.' The Doctor said, helping her to her feet (which were still bare). 'That's enough of feeling sorry for yourself. Are you ready to go home now?'

Ashley nodded rapidly. 'Yeah. Yeah I am. I don't like it here. It smells like my Uncle Bob's black jacket.'

The red haired woman laughed suddenly. 'Ha! Uncle Bob's cheap leather jacket. Just stinks of plastic.' She caught Ashley's bewildered look and went inside the box quickly.

The Doctor ushered her across the room to the box. 'Hop in! We'll be out in a jiffy.'

Ashley turned around and looked at him with a frown. 'In there? I don't think it'll make a good hiding place, do you?'

The Doctor grinned and winked at her. 'Oh you'll see.'

Ashley stepped through the door of the blue box, somehow knowing that she was safe now despite only meeting the Doctor twice. She expected to bump right into the red haired woman, but the red haired woman was on the other side of the room. The other side of the _huge_ room. She was leaning against a strange, round table thing that glowed blue and had various buttons and levers scattered all over it. There was a big tube in the middle that went all the way up to the high, domed ceiling. Ashley took a moment to take everything in, and then turned to the Doctor.

'You're an alien, aren't you?' she asked.

The Doctor smiled as he closed the door behind him. 'Yup.' He replied.

Ashley looked at him for a moment, musing over this, and then grinned broadly. She skipped on her feet and punched the air. '_Yess!_' he cried.

The Doctor half laughed and strode across the floor towards the control panel. 'That's the thing with you humans,' he said to the red haired woman. 'When you're older you're all-' He put on a mock, high-pitched voice, '_Oooh it's bigger on the inside! Oooh that's impossible! Oh my God you're an alien_! But the kids, ooh-ho the kids are over the moon. Literally.'

'The Child Catcher would have had a much easier job with the Tardis, right?' the woman smirked, still eyeing Ashley with a faint smile.

'Everyone would do better with a Tardis.' The Doctor replied. 'I wouldn't be half as great as I am now if I didn't have a Tardis. I'd still be _great_… just about five percent _less_ great.'

Ashley trotted up behind him. 'So is this your space ship?' she asked excitedly. 'Are we going into space?'

'You're not,' the Doctor replied as he flicked some switches. 'You're going back home and back to bed. Although we have to make a quick stop first.'

Ashley peered at the various buttons and levers and felt that familiar tingling in her fingers that all children got when they saw appealing buttons. But she knew better than to touch.

'What?' the woman asked with a frown. 'Where? Where are we going?'

'Their ship has a vortex manipulator. As long as its in tact it can pretty much follow us anywhere. We'll never be rid of it.'

'So we have to disable it then?'

'Yup. Good old bit of sabotage. Seems like a while since I've done that.' The Doctor snapped back a lever and the large cylinder in the middle began to move up and down. Ashley watched it in awe. It only went on for about thirty seconds, and then came to a stop with another echoey _thud_.

The Doctor whirled around to Ashley. 'Don't leave, you got that?' he told her sternly. 'You stay in here until we come back. We don't need to stay here any longer than necessary.' He paused and looked at the way the young girl was eyeing the controls. 'And don't touch anything or… or your fingers will fall off.'

Ashley looked at him in alarm. The red haired woman rolled her eyes and pulled the Doctor towards the doors. Ashley looked at the controls, eyes shining, but she kept her hands behind her back.

* * *

'That seemed easy enough,' Ashley mumbled to the Doctor as they stepped out of the Tardis and into a crampt, stuffy room.

'Oh well done,' the Doctor grumbled sarcastically. 'You've totally jinxed us now.'

Ashley looked at him in bewilderment. 'Excuse me?'

'You could have waited until we were _out_ and _away_.' The Doctor told her irritably. 'Saying _that seemed easy_ has practically the same consequences of saying _what's the worst that could happen _or _I wonder what this button does_ before you push a great big red button that says 'Do Not Push'. Although I myself am a bit partial to big red buttons.' He looked at her disapprovingly. 'Seriously, Ashley, I thought you would have known better.'

Ashley blinked at him. 'Well I'm sorry…' she mumbled.

The Doctor breathed out through his lips. 'Well I suppose it doesn't matter. Let's get this vortex manipulator sorted then before a grand piano falls on our heads or something.'

He moved ahead and Ashley followed a little sulkily. 'So what does it look like then?'

'Oh you'll know it when you see it.' He replied. 'Should be around here somewhere. I'm sure… Oh there it is!' He bounded ahead, slipping through a narrow gap between two crates easily and ducking under a mass of hanging black wires.

Ashley had a little more difficulty sliding through the gap what with being female and having a few more curves than the Doctor, and quickly joined his side. She peered at the little metal box on the wall, which was no more than a fuse and three green lights, and raised her eyebrows. 'I can tell you now that I wouldn't have known that was a vortex manipulator. Looks more like a light switch.'

'What did you think it was going to look like?' the Doctor asked her.

She opened her mouth to respond, but realised she didn't actually have an answer. She shrugged her shoulders. The Doctor pulled the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and pointed it at the three lights. The tool whirred and buzzed for a moment, then two of the lights went off.

'Oh, fudge sticks.' He grumbled.

'What?' Ashley enquired.

'The whole thing is fire walled. If I want to disable it completely I'll need about half an hour. An hour at most.'

'I don't think we have an hour.'

'I know that.'

'Well what do we do then?'

The Doctor thought for a moment, tapping the sonic screwdriver on his chin. 'Hmm… Tell you what, pick a number.'

Ashley rose her eyebrows. 'You what?'

'A number. Any number.' He beamed. 'You've got from one to… gosh, whatever you like.'

Ashley smiled at him and then thought. 'Um… how about three million, two thousand, five hundred and forty… one. No, forty two.'

'Oooh I like it.' The Doctor grinned. He pointed the screwdriver at the panel and it began to buzz and whir again.

'What are you doing?' Ashley asked.

'I've set it on a timer. The firewall should disable within half an hour and then the whole thing will go down, but not before this ship jumps to the year three million, two thousand, five hundred and forty two on the other side of the universe to where we are now.'

Ashley laughed. 'Seriously?'

'Yes, seriously. And it's going to jump in about…' The Doctor glanced at his watch. 'Five minutes. We better get moving.'

He slipped back down the narrow corridor and Ashley followed quickly, taking her a moment to register what he said.

'Why do we have to hurry?' she asked. 'We have the Tardis.'

The Doctor glanced over his shoulder. 'Why make the trip any longer?' he replied.

Ashley felt there was something he was not telling her, but she didn't bring it up. She wondered if all he had done was plot a new course for the ship. Something told her he had done more than that.

She walked into the back of him, too caught up in her own musings. 'What-' she started, and then peered past the Doctor.

The short bounty hunter, Desya, had hold of the young Ashley by her hair and was pointing a gun at the Doctor and adult Ashley. Everyone was completely silent for a moment.

'Nice ship you've got there,' Desya growled. 'No wonder the boss wants it. Bigger on the inside? Trying to make up for something?'

The Doctor only glared at him. 'Let her go.'

Desya snorted. 'Sod off. She's my retirement plan.'

Young Ashley whimpered as Desya pulled her hair a little. Adult Ashley started forward, but the Doctor held his arm in front of her.

'I've set the vortex manipulator to self destruct.' He said. 'I'd say you have about… four minutes to disable it? What would you rather put at risk, your retirement plan, or you life?'

Desya's smile faltered, but then returned unsurely. 'You're bluffing.'

'I don't bluff.' The Doctor replied.

Desya sniffed. He glanced nervously to his right and in that split second, the Doctor rose the sonic screwdriver and blasted it at the gun. The gun sparked and Desya let go of it with a startled cry. At the same time he let go of young Ashley's hair and she ran towards the Doctor. The Doctor sprinted towards the Tardis and flung the doors open.

'Get inside!' he yelled at the two Ashleys.

Desya regained himself quickly and grabbed for younger Ashley, catching the back of her nightdress. At the exact time, red lights flickered on and a low alarm began to blare. A voice began to count down from twenty.

'Help!' young Ashley wailed.

The Doctor looked around wildly as the voice counted down. Desya was looking around for his gun. Adult Ashley bit her lip, and then ran to him. She barely heard the Doctor yelling at her to stop behind her. She kicked Desya hard in the side of his head, sending him sprawling backwards. This time she _did_ hear the Doctor yell out, but it was a bit too late.

'_Don't touch her_!' he bellowed, but Ashley had already grabbed her younger version by the arm and was dragging her back to the Tardis. They all rushed inside, the Doctor slamming the door behind them. He whirled around to them angrily and yanked them apart.

'What did I _tell_ you?' he yelled in adult Ashley's face. 'What did I _specifically _tell you when we first landed here?'

Ashley glowered at him. 'You set that ship to _detonate_!' she yelled back.

The Doctor grimaced and stalked towards the controls, flicking buttons and pulling levers. 'You have no idea what you've done, do you? You've just made things ten times worse!'

'We were going to _blow up_!' Ashley cried. Beside her, younger Ashley watched the exchange with wide eyes.

'I had it under control!' the Doctor yelled back.

'You were staring at the ceiling!'

He snapped a lever back angrily and the Tardis began to hum. 'You really want to hope that they missed that.'

Ashley crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest. 'I only grabbed her arm. What's the worst that could happen?'

'There you go again! Jinxing us!'

'Oh shut up! There's no such thing as jinxing.'

The Tardis landed with a thud. The Doctor moved quickly to the doors and pulled them open. 'Well let's just try and get things back to normal, shall we? Before this all turns…' He trailed off as he stepped outside, looking up at the sky.

At his sudden silence, Ashley hurried to the doors, along with her younger counterpart. She stepped beside him and looked up. Her mouth dropped open. She went to go back inside the Tardis immediately.

'No!' The Doctor told her. 'It's too late for that.' He looked at her grimly. 'Just _run_.'

The Reaper that swooped and ducked above them let out a blood-curdling scream, and then began to dive down towards them. The Doctor shoved Ashley and younger Ashley forward across the field.

'_Run_!' he yelled. '_Just run_!'

Ashley felt the younger girls hand slip into her own and a moment later they were sprinting for their lives across the muddy field.

Little Ashley turned her face up at her. 'You totally did jinx us!'


	12. Fear the Reaper

**A/N: One chapter left, which I'm off to write now and will probably be posted in about an hoooour or less. Then that's this one finished lol! I'm assuming everyone has seen 'Fathers Day' from series 1 and knows what the Reaper is... but if not... WATCH IT!!**

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**Chapter Twelve**

**Fear the Reaper**

The red haired woman was yelling for her to run, but she didn't seem to take into consideration the fact that Ashley was only ten, and had much shorter legs. Also, the ground was fairly muddy and she was barefooted. She tried to insist that she couldn't keep up, but the inhuman shrieks and screams from the creature chasing them prevented her from voicing that insistence. Ashley could hear the _woomph woomph_ of the creatures' huge wings as it pursued them, and her childish curiosity forced her to risk a glance over her shoulder.

The Doctor wasn't far behind, running full pelt with his head lowered. The creature was almost right above him, its mouth open and forever belting out shrieks of anger. Its eyes glowed bright red, and they were fixed solely on the Doctor. It began to swoop down to him.

'Doctor!' Ashley shrieked, seeing the inevitable.

The red haired woman also looked back, eyes wide and expression horrified. 'No!' she screamed, stopping.

'_Keep running!_' he yelled, waving his arms. '_You have to get her away_!' He dropped down onto his knees, covering his head with his arms, and the winged creature descended on him, wrapping its thick, veined wings around him like a grotesque blanket.

'_Doctor_!' the red haired woman screamed. She started towards him, and then stopped. She looked down at Ashley, seemed to make an instantaneous decision despite her clear distress, and began running again. 'Whatever you do,' she panted. 'Just keep running, okay? This is all about you. If it gets you, this is all for nothing. Whatever happens, just _keep running_!'

Ashley didn't need to be told twice. She gritted her teeth and pushed herself harder than she had even done before. The red haired woman's words kept echoing around her head. This was about her? Why? Why was she so special? She was just a stupid kid with a psycho mum who had the tendency to bite other kids and do crap on her maths homework! Since when did all that make her eligible for being on spaceships and chased by giant bats?

Being lost in her thoughts actually helped her pull away from the woman running with her. She cast a glance back to her and saw that she was struggling to keep up, and now the creature's eyes were fixed on her. Ashley could see the chain of events quite clearly. It would swoop down on the woman, devour her, and then move on to Ashley. She was fighting a losing battle. It was going to get her one way or another. Where was she supposed to go? Just run?

The Doctor had told her to run, so she would. Whatever was happening here was bigger than just her – even a child could see that – so she would do as she was told. She would run.

She didn't look back as she heard that awful _woomph_ sound again, followed by the woman's screams. It took a moment for her brain to decipher them, but she realised the woman was screaming for her to keep running. She looked ahead. She could see the town looming. Running at this speed she would reach it in about twenty seconds, but she wasn't sure if that was enough.

This was all down to her now. A terrified, ten year old girl.

Ashley battled up the muddy slope that lead onto the path. Behind her, the creature shrieked out and its wings began pounding again, but she persisted. She felt the air around her moving as it got closer and she was suddenly convinced that it had got her… But then she slipped. She landed face down in the mud. She felt the air whip around her as the creature swooped over her and missed entirely, taking off high into the air to perform another swooping dive. Ashley scrambled through the mud and began to run again.

It was harder to run on the pavement. Every time her bare feet hit the concrete a jolt ran up her legs, tiring her just a little. Her chest felt like it was going to explode and her vision was starting to blur. She was going to faint, she could feel it. Probably more out of pure fear than exhaustion. She hopped off the curb onto the road, and scraped her foot on the rough tarmac. She winced, stumbled, and came to a stop. The creature shrieked from somewhere above and she searched for it, waiting for it to come down and eat her. This was it. She couldn't run anymore. It just…

A horn blared suddenly and lights engulfed her. Ashley whirled around, covered in mud from head to toe, and saw the early morning milk float tearing towards her, with Mr Lucas the milkman behind the wheel. Mr Lucas had always been criticized for driving the milk float too fast, but because he was such a nice man no one really argued with him for too long. He always left an extra bottle of orange juice for Ashley on the doorstep. He was going far too fast to stop.

Above, the creature wailed.

The horn on the milk float blared again.

And Ashley clenched her eyes shut.


	13. Kindness of Strangers

**A/N: For the record, ScreamsOnScreen has her mojo back XD**

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**Chapter Thirteen**

**The Kindness of Strangers**

Ashley Chambers looked at the cast on her leg bitterly. Nine weeks, the doctor had said. Nine weeks of being stuck inside or hobbling around on crutches because of speed freak Mr Lucas the milk float driver. As if that wasn't bad enough there had been getting visits from the same pair of police officers asking her what had happened. Auntie Clara had done nothing but cry for a long time, which was weird because Auntie Clara _never_ cried. But then as the police kept asking what happened and Ashley only shrugged and told them she didn't know, Clara seemed to lose her uncharacteristic sobs and return to her regular irritable self.

'What do you mean you don't know?' she had demanded. 'You were missing for a whole night!'

If Ashley could have remembered what had happened properly, then she would have been confused to why no one mentioned the fact of her being pulled out of her bed by three strangers. But apparently, no one else could remember that either. As far as Aunty Clara and the police were concerned, Ashley had left of her own accord, and got hit by a milk float in the process.

But Ashley couldn't remember. In fact, she had been as confused as anyone else as one minute she had been in bed, dreaming about stupid Kirsty Mather getting dragged off by the men in the white (_spaceship_) van, and next thing she knew she was lying in hospital with a broken leg and a fractured collar bone.

But for now the questions had ceased and she was on her own. Most people would probably appreciate that, but Ashley was ten, and she didn't like being on her own. Especially when there was a boring show on TV and she couldn't even get up to change the channel.

Fantastic.

Ashley craned her neck as she heard the door of the ward open, and winced at the pain that shot through her shoulder. The nurse was escorting a young looking couple inside. The man was tall and smiling, with wild brown hair and a pinstripe suit. The woman was slim with bright red hair and dressed quite messily in jeans and a t-shirt that read '_I Rode The Biggest Roller Coaster In The Universe And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt_'. To her surprise, the nurse pointed towards _her_, and the couple grinned and headed over to her.

'Hi!' the man beamed at her. 'How are you feeling?'

Ashley looked at him suspiciously. 'Like I got ran over by a milk float.'

The woman snorted, and glanced to the man in amusement. His smile briefly faltered, but then he smiled brilliantly again and lifted a brown bag.

'I brought you these.' He said proudly, handing her the bag.

Ashley took it tentatively, and peered inside. She glanced back to the two of them. 'You didn't like… spit on them or anything did you?'

The man's eyebrows shot up. 'What? No! Why would I spit on them?'

'He ate a couple.' The woman smiled.

The man looked at her in alarm. 'I did not!'

'Oh _liar_!' she breathed.

Ashley frowned at the two of them and placed the bag on the side of the bed. 'You do know that this is just a hospital. Not an orphanage. I hope you don't think you can adopt me or something.'

The man chuckled. 'Don't worry. One of you is enough.' The woman jabbed him and frowned. He whined and rubbed his arm. 'Joke!' he insisted.

Ashley continued to look at them both suspiciously. 'Who are you? I'm not supposed to talk to strangers…' She paused. 'But then again my mum is crazy so I suppose I don't have-'

'Listen to anything she says.' The man finished, laughing. 'Yeah I remember.' He looked at her fondly for a moment, as did the woman. Ashley had a sudden, overwhelming feeling that she knew the two of them very well. She could almost swear that the woman was her family. She did bear a striking resemblance to her mother…

'Are you my cousin or something?' she asked the woman.

She half smiled. 'Something like that.' She took a step towards the bed but the man grabbed her arm suddenly. She turned and shot him an irritated look.

'No repeats.' He said warningly.

The woman pushed her bottom lip out with her tongue and made a '_duh'_ noise at him. He blinked at her for a moment, and then let go of her. He turned back to Ashley again, grinning.

'Well I think that's it. Grapes, small chit-chat…' He paused in thought. 'Oh, and to tell you you're a good runner.'

Ashley frowned deeply at him, not appreciating the irony. The man noticed this and hissed through his teeth.

'Oh right. Yeah, sorry about that.' He glanced to the woman and pushed his hands in his pockets. 'Well, I think that's it. See you later, Ashley Chambers.' He shot her a wink.

Ashley only continued to frown at him. He grinned and began to head away. The woman waved her fingers and then began to follow him, but then turned and came back.

'Next time you see Kirsty Mather,' she smirked. 'Point out to everyone that she has one foot bigger than the other. You don't notice it until its pointed out, but it's _really_ obvious.' She grinned and winked.

'Ashley.' The man said in a warning tone.

The woman, who seemed to share Ashley's name, grinned once more and then hurried after the man.

'You,' he cried incredulously. 'I don't believe you sometimes. It's like you _want_ to destroy the universe!'

Ashley watched them as they headed out of the doors. The woman sighed and shook her head.

'I don't want to _destroy_ the universe. I just want to adjust it to my needs.'

'Pfft,' the man replied as he held the door open for her. 'Next you'll be hunkering down in a metal shell and shouting _exterminate_ at everyone.'

They disappeared out of the ward. Ashley sat silently for a moment, and then turned her attention back to the TV. She cursed lightly, and wondered why she hadn't asked them to change the channel for her.

**THE END**

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**E/N: Well I did a copout lol! At least now you all know that if you're being chased by a reaper, just run into oncoming traffic and everything will work out fiiiine! :D**

**Hope you enjoyed that one. There were a few things I had wanted to do that just didn't seem to happen, like more about little Ashley... but meh I can always come back to it when the series has finished because I probably won't be writing anything else for a while. Speaking of the impending end, i've decided I'm doing 12 episodes altogther because a) thirteen is an unlucky number and 2) I don't have that many ideas and i think using EIAH as a episode is cheating. Although I'm promoting it to episode 10.5 lol. How's that for a copout XD**

**I have no idea for the next one at the mo, although I have a little idea that will probably spawn into a proper one. The first chapter starts off at a party anyway, which means the Doctor is in his tux and we all know only good things happen to the Doctor in a tux. Well they don't really... he often nearly gets killed but... damn he does it looking good :D**

**That's enough of my ramble, kiddywinkles, and I shall see you at Episode 10 :o**


End file.
